documentary special voters in america. who counts. we're running it sunday, this sunday, 8:00 p.m. eastern. it's great stuff. joe johns did a terrific job, so i encourage you to take a look. a huge controversial issue. thank you so much for watching this program. it's nice to have you with us. newsroom international continues right now with victor blackwell. >> welcome to news room international. we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes. let's get right to the developing situation in greece. a visit by the german chancellor brings tens of thousands of protesters in to the street, laying the blame for the current suffering at germany's feet. kr angela merkel told greeks it is tough medicine, but it's necessary. >> translator: if one country in

the eurozone is not in good shape, we are all not in good shape. we have a joint interest to be in good shape. i'm firmly convinced a path which is a tough path will lead to success. >> richard quest is watching this from london. richard, is the bailout in any jeopardy with this discussion from angela merkel? >> merkel is there because she hasn't been to greece for the last few years, certainly not since the crisis began. and the of course reaction has been traumatic to say the least. tens of thousands of protesters on the street. the best part of 7,000 policemen there to protect her. that's just about 1,000 policemen for every hour that she was on the ground. and what was worse of course, it was just a six hour visit. to answer your question where we stand with greece for the

moment, the country has asked for more time. the troica, the central bank of you're roch, eu, imf, have been visit to go see if greece should get more money or the money that's pledged. and long arrested short nd shor not certain that they will get the next bailout tranche. >> we of course have to talk about spain and spain will step into the spotlight as we talk about bailing out some of these countries. what's next for spain as greece trying to on get tget the money? >> there has been one major development and that is that the europeans in the last 24 hours now have their bailout fund. it's up, it's ready. and if and when -- and this is the crucial point. the spanish have to ask for help. and so far spain has said it doesn't need help. the ecb and the europeans are

looking waiting for a request to come in. and now we're in this really difficult area. because the longer spain waits, the worse the situation could get. but so far spain is not saying they need help. quite the opposite, they're saying they don't need a bailouts. >> richard quest watching this situation from london. of course we'll see more fallout and response from angela merkel's comments today. just 28 days until the election. and mitt romney is campaigning hard after telling the world what his foreign policy will look like if he wins the white house. >> but hope is not a strategy. we can't support our friends and defeat our enemies when our words are not backed up by deeds. >> pundits are already buzzing about the upcoming foreign policy debate, but we want to look at how the rest of the world is reacting to this

election. and our focus is on two hot spots, syria and libya. >> mitt romney tried to portray himself as a more forceful commander in chief. most thoetbly trying to draw a distinction from the obama administration over their approach to syria. he was clear he would be sure that syrian rebels got the weapons they need, the heavy weaponry they so desperately need to take on the gun ships an tanks causing civilian casualties. he portrayed the struggle as more about checking iran's influence in that region, but he also pointed out one of the major contradictions the white house is currently facing, the violence extremists are flowing in, but the need to vet the kind of assistance it would go to. >> most libyans have not been following the presidential campaign.

the attention has been on the country's own political situation. on sunday, the national assembly voted out the prime minister it had selected less than a month ago go. libya is now facing a political vacuum at a time of serious threats an instability. but one line from mitt romney's speech that would stand out to libyans, he said he would vigorously pursue those responsible for the september 11th attackn the u.s. consulate in benghazi. libyan officials here have praised the obama's administration response to the attack and have you wowed to work together with the united states to bring the perpetrators to justice and to confront the rising islamic extremist threats in the eastern part of the country. but officials also at the same time have said that this is a very thin line. if the united states were to take any action that would infringe on libya's national sovereignty, that could be damaging to relations between both countries and cause internal turmoil.

>> of course lots of questions for mitt romney about that foreign policy plan, the new polls, the debate performance, and today our wolf blitzer has a live interview with mitt roy in that at 6:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. and thursday it's the vice presidential debate. live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific. his nickname is fearless felix. he's getting ready to jump from the edge of space. 23 miles above the globe to be exact. felix baumgartner is getting ready to plummet to the earth to break a skydiving record. he'll leap from a specially built balloon and capsule wearing a high tech spacesuit that actually weighs 100 pounds. if it goes wrong, it could go terribly wrong. and now all he has to do is wait for the weather. he was supposed to go at 10:30 eastern this morning, but it's been delayed. chad myers is with me. the conditions that he needs of

course aren't available today, but tell us what kinds of conditions he needs to make this a success. >> the problem this morning was that we had some surface winds or at least maybe 100 feet off the ground winds. when the balloon would be inflated, it would tilt the balloon over and they don't want that. they want the balloon to be basically straight above where the capsule is. so now they've unloaded the balloon. that's good news. once take you it out of the box, your it or throw it away. so you can't crust pack it baju back up. it's like the thickness of your dry cleaning bag. it weighs 3700 pounds.up. it's like the thickness of your dry cleaning bag. it weighs 3700 pounds. fully inflated, it will be the size of six madison square gardens. that's how much helium has to go into this thing for felix to rise. obviously it has to rise the balloon, has to take the capsule up. and fee felix of course.

he'll go 600 miles an hour or hour, faster than the speed of sound. he's done it from 18 miles high, but not 23 miles high. he didn't make it to the seed of sound, so he has to go higher. you can't go faers than about 100, 110 miles an hour in the atmosphere. that's why felix has to go so high. he has to get above the air. so that the air isn't slowing him down. think about when you were a kid, you wanted to roll the window down and stick your hand out. that pushes your hand back. that's the air pushing your hand. you don't want that air if you're trying to fall from fr space and go the speed of sound or better. so here we are, we're watching the red bull stratus tweet feed, doing good preparing the pre-breather. everything is looking good. he's getting ready.

the problem has been, you talked about this a bit, this was supposed to go up a month or so ago go, but they damaged the capsule on a practice trial. in that delay, they now have fall. the jet stream has come down from the north and the jet is almost 70 miles an hour over where felix is right now. so felix will be blown down wind. it will be going almost over toward texas. this is the wind that they don't want to break the balloon. if this balloon breaks for any reason at 1,000 feet, felix has no chance to get a parachute out and land. if it breaks at 30,000 feet, he's okay. certainly can get a parachute and land safely. if it gets up to about 50,000, 60,000 feet, it's 70 degrees below zero. and the wind is blowing 70. i don't care what kind of piece of plastic you have, plastic is brittle at 70 below zero. so there's been a couple of

bumps in the road for them today, but so far they are on the road to space. they will be falling through the space, victor will, from all the way up here, this is 23 miles high and about 5 miles high, maybe 6, he will really begin to slow down. so there is another factor. is he going to go the speed of sound, sure. but what happens when he at the speed of sound then hits the ats moss fear. we didn't want that spacesuit to tear in that drag.atsmoss fear. we didn't want that spacesuit to tear in that drag. that would be catastrophic for felix. >> and the expected launch time is 1:15 eastern when he'll start that as scent to go up. >> two hours to get to the top. >> and when you consider 120,000 feet, if you consider jetliners fly from 35,000 to 40,000, triple that, that's where he's taking the leap. >> there is no air to slow him down, that's the only way to get

to the speed of sound is not have that friction of the air. sky looks good, winds have calmed and they are go for a launch at least in about an hour and 15 minutes. somewhere around about there. >> all right. we'll all be watching. from the air now to the water. it contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, but australia's great barrier reef has been cut in half since 1985. we'll talk about why this is happening. >> translator: when i couldn't see her, i used to go crazy and think about her all the time. i'd lie awake not sleeping. it was just like the movies. >> but it was a doomed relationship from the start. >> it's love story and they are the modern day romeo and juliet. but a group called the love command doughs is making sure this couple has a very happy ending. and north korea now claim it is has missiles that can reach the u.s., but is the threat real

or just more rhetoric? we'll ask our pentagon correspondent. [ man ] in hong kong, on my way to the board meeting...

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north korea says it his stills can reach the u.s. mainland. this announcement comes just days after south korea announced a deal with the u.s. to extend its missile range. pentagon correspondent chris lawrence joins us. how credible really is this claim? we've heard claims from north korea before. is this something that the u.s. should really be concerned about? >> bottom line, no, not right now. although north korea is working on the technology. everyone i've spoken to the pentagon say they're not close to perfecting it. alaska is about 3500 miles away from north korea, california between 5,000 and 6,000 miles. they haven't come close to testing a rocket that's gone nearly that far. they've tested this type of technology about three times. in 2006, the rocket flew about 40 seconds and exploded. in 2009, they tried to put a sat white into orbit, but that broke

up over the sea well short of what they had sbeintended. and then six months ago, they tested similar technology again. it flew but again broke up over the sea. so they've had three failures it took the united states about 24 launches to perfect this technology, a third of which failed. so it's not easy to do. and north korea, although they seam to be improving, they're not close to what they just claimed. >> as you mentioned, back in april they had the test that failed. south korea just approved to increase their range to the northern peninsula. how much of this is about escalating tensions on the korean peninsula between these two countries? >> i think it is probably in response to this deal between south korea and the united states. basically the u.s. and south korea have now agreed that south korea can extend the range of its own missiles up to about 500

miles. it's designed to give south consider score korea a little m protection. north korea politically had to respond otherwise everyone i've spoken to says they can't think of any other good reason why they would make such a claim that is so easily disproven. it's tit for tat. perhaps it is political posture ing on the part of north korea to set things up when south kor korea's next president takes office. >> all right. thank you. what do mike ditka and mike irvin have in common with actor mark wahlberg? here's a hint. it has to do with american football, but not in the u.s. rge

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there is no doubt the nfl has widespread appeal even international appeal with and

without the regular refs. but would you bet your rupee american football would fly in india? >> when you think of sports in india, you might think of cricket or maybe field hockey or even tennis. but one that doesn't spring to mind is american football. ♪ that's the kind of thinking the efli is out to change. the elite football league of india is actually eight teams from india, pakistan and lisa ran came playing american style football in their very first season with names like the deli defenders and mumbai gladiator, organizers say they hope to become the most valuable sports franchise in the world. but some observers are skeptical the sport will catch on. >> in a viewer's perspective,

they have had absolutely no understanding and introduction to the sport of american football. so my gut feel would be that it is an uphill task to get american football any level of following over here in india. >> so how to sell a new sport? by warming up the crowd. and this is how it's being presented to the indian public. games are pre-recorded and then boiled down to a fast paced hour long highlights reel. with music and high production values, aiming to catch a budding fan's eye. in factual of the games have already been played. they were filmed back to back in just a few short weeks at a near empty stadium in sir lanka. >> we had guys that were leak all over the place. guys that never played sports, one guy named sticks. >> american coaches are building the teams and the league has some star power behind it.

former nfl hall of famers mike ditka and michael irvin and actor mark wahlberg are financial backers. but it's tough to find players. rugby is the closest cousin and that's a big recruitment pool. for many players, the sport is as new to them as it is to the public. >> american football our biggest challenge will be to tackle cynicism. it will be to get people to play to any level of professional competence. >> a fan base is building, at least online. spoiler alert, though, if you visited fan site, it's already updated with the overall win forethier for this season. >> he was part of syrian president assad's brutal regime and now he's talking to cnn.

>> how did assad's behavior change? >> translator: he seemed worried all day long. we rarely saw him smiling. he stared out the windows and was always anxious and tense. >> the tearian press officer give as firsthand account of what is happening inside the government. "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one.

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welcome back. i'm victor blackwell. we're about 27 minutes in to our tour around the world. up next, you cannot see much, so just listens. [ gunfire ] >> this is a firefight from overnight near an air force compound outside syria's capital. opposition groups say two huge car bombs exploded in that area. and we have video of intense fighting outside of damascus.

tank just moving through the streets. activists say at least 31 people were killed across the country today, most victims found burned and their bodies have not been identified. a man who says he saw the inner workings of the syrian are a geem has fled the country and now he's talking about how bashar al assad has handled the uprising. ivan watson got the interview. >> reporter: he used to rub shoulders with some of the most powerful people in syria. government ministers, foreign dignitaries aunts even the syrian president. for five years, omar claims he worked in the presidential palace. his main job was propaganda. >> translator: i was a member of the press office in the presidential palace. we met to manufacture news and see how we could distrkocould d publish the lies. we invented stories to help

justify the crimes committed. >> reporter: omar says he was a member of a 15 member team. when high ranking officials like the former prime minister defected, omar's job was to trash the defect toreor's reputations. >> translator: we contacted regime loyalists to appear as guests to say the defectors were bad and corrupt. >> reporter: but now omar is one of those defectors and he's offering details impossible for cnn to independently verify about how the syrian president has coped with the uprising. how did al assad's behavior change over the last year and a half? >> translator: he seemed worried. we rarely saw him smiling. he was always anxious and tense. one day i saw him kick a table, he was cursing and swear ainst the syrian people.

>> reporter: omar shows photos of himself with top iranian officials like the ambassadors to damascus and beirut. were the iranians meeting with al assad frequently? almost daily he tells me, four and five times a week. omar says the biggest crisis came in july after a bombing killed this man, presidential security izer, as well as three other top security officials. he says the bombing also seriously wounded assad's brother, a military commander who hasn't been seen in public in months. >> translator: two days after he returned from medical treatment in russia, he came to the presidential palace, he had lost his left leg in the bombing and also the use of his left arm. >> reporter: last year omar defected and fled to his hometown in northern syria, now a ghost town devastated by the civil war. how did you feel when you saw

the deconstruction? >> translator: i swear i cried when i entered and saw all the houses and shops abandoned. and everything destroyed and burned. when i saw it with my own eye, i cried and asked how could al assad do this. i want to apologize to the syrian people because i worked for this butcher killer regime. >> reporter: a tearful apology, but his sincerity is questionable he is splisquesti n questionable especially when he spent years lying for the regime. >> ivan watson joins us now. you point out right at the end of the story that this man who was paid to lie is now coming forward and saying, okay, the truth this time has a bit of a credibility problem. but is he offering any valuable information to either the opposition or some international organizations that might want to prosecute al assad? >> reporter: he says he wants to

help the opposition, but they might not need his help because there have been thousands of defectors all the way up to the rang of generals and even the prime minister. some of these people carried out orders to kill people.kg of gen prime minister. some of these people carried out orders to kill people. of gener prime minister. some of these people carried out orders to kill people. so opposition groups are gathering evidence to prosecute people for alleged war crimes. i think in this case and this man one rebel source tells us that this man, omar, was an informer for the much feared syrian air force intelligence agency. the fact that he spent years working his way up into the corridors of power and basically kissing up to the top levels of a dictatorship and now he's fleeing and spilling the beans about it, it does suggest that at least one of the rats is jumping off of what could be described as a sinking ship. >> you're in turkey just north

of syria. and there's been some shelling back and forth across the border for the past few days and this is heating up. what's the latest on the front at that border with turkey and syria? >> reporter: it's looking tense. six straight days of cross border artillery duals. today was the quietest day. we haven't had reports of firing across the border yet. it's interesting that the secretary general of the nato military alliance of which turkey is a member, he came out and said he's happy that the turks have restrained themselves, that they have not retaliated more forcefully thus far. and he also sent the message that the syrians should be listening to saying that nato is ready and prepared to defend turkey if it continues coming under attack. this will be something important to watch. if nato gets drawn in, if turkey gets drawn in, then it could also bring in russia and countries like iran which have been very strong committed

allies of the embattled syrian regime. >> syrian civil war and we'll see what happens with turkey. ivan watson respect thank you. it may be the most contested wildlife permit in a decade. one aquarium wants to import beluga whales from russia. [ woman ] before allegra,

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environmentalists are furious. have you heard about these two big stories this month? a new study found the great barrier reef off the coast of australia, khas lost half it coral in the last 25 years. most in the last years. second, a group of aquarium owners has askeded for permission to import beluga whales captured fromhe wild.

felipe coustea joins me. let's start with the barrier reef. you can tell us why it's such a special place and why is this happening? >> of course the great barrier reef is the longest barrier reef in the world. and close to the hearts of people around the world. and a lot of bad news coming out of research by the australian institute of marine sciences that as you pointed out half of the coral in the great barrier reef has declined largely due to both tropical storms, a crown of thorns starfish that feeds on the coral up to 40% declined just from the starfish alone and of course climate change and coral bleaching. >> so storms, starfish, climate change. what can we do to stop the coral loss? >> well, this is some scary news. this is much more than anyone expected. but there is a little bit of a silver lining.

we believe the crown of thorns starfish in their larva stages grow faster because of runoff and fertilizer off the coast of australia. so scientists are calling for vehicler controls on that runoff going into the reef which may help to reduce the population of the crown of thorns starfish and hopefully relieve some of the pressure. they believe up to 42% of the decline of the great barrier reef has been caused by extreme outbreaks of these crown of thorns starfish. so hopefully reducing runoff can have a positive impact and allow the reef to recover to a certain degree at least. >> i think that's a surprise to some people when you started listing the storms and climate change that this starfish causes so much of this damage. let's go now to the beluga whale serious ci controversy. they're applying for a federal permit to import 18 beluga whales taken from the wild off the eastern coast of russia.

first, and i don't think a lot of people know this, how typically do these aquariums, these parks get the beluga whales? >> well, traditionally, marine mammals have been traded amongst aquariums rescued from unsustainable facilities or inhumane facilities. and these being a square julys have been very sensitive to public opinion about importing wild animals, very, very highly intelligence animals that swim hundredses of miles a day and dive hundreds of feet down enclosing them into a small facility. so they've been sensitive to that type of negative public backlash and haven't imported any since 1993. >> so about 20 years since this request was made and granted. opponents say this should be declined. what do you think? >> well, of course the side from the aquariums is that this is important to increase the breeding stock and genetic

diversity, an important educational tool. but on the other hand, they certainly do make considerable at of money from these whales. and talking to a lot of marine mammal researchers, they're very concerned that some of the claims about the value from the conservation and education perspective are bloefr blown. if you think that we've had rhinos and elephants in captivity for hundreds of years and they're still on the endangered species list, the argument that having these animals in captivity for entertainment and education leads to their conservation, according to some environmentalists is a thin argument. so i think that there's a lot to still be learned about this issue and people should become aware of what's happening and share their voices and comments taker abo commentary about what's happening. >> and we'll see what the response from the federal government will be.

thank you very much. she shood up for what she believed in. the 14-year-old was nominated for pakistan's national peace prize. but her activism made her a target of the taliban. after working on the computer all day, you'd think i want to stay away from it at night. truth is, i like to stay connected with friends. but all that screen time can really dry me out. so i use visine. aah. it revives me, so i can get poked, winked, and -- ooh -- party all night long. only visine has hydroblend -- a unique blend of three moisturizers that soothe, restore, and protect to keep me comfortable for up to 10 hours.

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an accused terrorist has pleaded not guilty to terrorist charges. he says he did not connecticut fire with a group of men in seattle to set up a terrorism training camp in seattle. he also said he's not responsible for the 1998 kids napping of 16 westerners in yemen. the judge said a trial date for next august. if convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. the revolution whether he had to his presidency and now it's pay back time. egyptian president mohamed morsi is pardoning protesters.

mr. who are cimoor morsi postede who committed crimes with the aim of supporting the revolution. that's regardless of whether they are under investigation, on trial or already convicted. the only exceptions are those accused of premeditated murder. and new to mexico where a group of armed men just stole the body of a slain drug gang leader. the mexican military confirmed a little earlier today that they killed lazcano. his body had been moved to a funeral home in northern mexico and that's when the armed men moved in and took the body according to the state attorney general. the nobel prize in fizzic this is year goes to american and french scientists. david wineland and they were honored for their work in light and matter.

they'll share the $1.2 million prize and that money has been decreased would i 20% because of the economic downturn. and now to northwest pakistan where a 14-year-old girl who won a peace prize for her actity vichl has been shot by the pakistani taliban. they say they targeted this young girl specifically because they has been outspoken about allowing girls to be educated. her father says she's in stable condition, though she has a bullet lodged in her neck. but the taliban warns if she survives this time, she won't next time. reza is on the phone. for this 14 why would girl -yea speak out is heroic. tell us more about her. >> she's maybe the most famous 14-year-old in pakistan and some say the bravest. that's because in many ways she took on on the taliban. when she was 11, she started speaking out against the taliban, condemning militants on

an internet blog. she inspired a lot of people saying things many government officials weren't even saying. she did it because the taliban in 2007, it had started to take over her home reenlg often swat valley, shutting down schools. one thing she spoke in support of was girls' education and for what she did, she was nominated for an international peace prize and also won an award for courage. so this is a girl that a lot of people in pakistan admire very much. >> and we've heard from some of the girls who were in the van with her during the attack. she described what happened. let's listen. >> translator: they asked who she was and we pointed towards her. he opened fire and hit her and two of u.s. as and then they ra away. >> translator: when we were in the van, a boy came in and pointed a gun at us and asked us to be silent p. then he asked us about malala. >> again, the quote, if she

survives this time, she won't next time, the girls describe this as a matter of fact attack, actually last year she feared being be headed by the taliban, right? >> she did. she knew what she was doing was dangerous, she knew she was taking on maybe the most dangerous group. and that was cha made her remarkable is that she kept fighting. we met her and she would like a little sold yefr, just tough as nails. very strong in principle he willed when it comes to human rights and women's rights. she was a mini activist in many ways. >> all right. reza, again that girl has a bullet lodged in her neck. we'll of course follow her condition and recovery. well, when you are young and in love, you'll do anything to be together. >> they said i would ruin the family's reputation, they had threaten me all the time. i couldn't take it anymore. i told them we need on to do something. >> reporter: with no one else to

turn, to they called the love commandos. >> so the title is maybe a little goofy, but their job is anything but funny. male announu make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it.

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new story of forbidden love. their union is a no go because her fame is rich, his family is poor and in india, that doesn't fly. now they live underground and they're being protected by an unlikely group of lawyers and journalists who call themselves the love commandos. their story from new delhi. >> reporter: in this bustling city of 18 million people, they say even the walls have ears. so we're taken through amaze of back alleys to a location we cannot disclose, a safe house somewhere in downtown delhi. here we meet the 22-year-olds.

they've been hiding here for the past two weeks. their crime, falling in love. >> translator: when i couldn't see her, i used to go crazy and think about her all the time. i'd lie awake all night not sleeping. it was just like the movies. >> reporter: but like many, it was a doomed relationship from the start. she belongs to an upper class family of land owners and dave a lower class family of black smiths. malita says she feared for her life all because of her feelings for dave. >> translator: they said i would ruin the family's reputation. they would threaten me all the time. i couldn't take it anymore. i told them we need to do something. >> reporter: with no one else to turn to, they called the love commandos. an an unlikely group of ex-journalists and lawyers who made it that mission to even the odds. the head commander says they've helped rescue some 20,000 couples since it started back in

2010. 95% of marriages in india are arranged. but with more and more indian youth flirting with romance, the love commandos have their work cut out. they're giving them food and protection until they can find their own feet. they're providing legal assistance and even got the couple legally married. but they worry others back home are having it pay the price. two hours outside of delhi, we find lalita's grandfather at home. he tells us the parents are at the farm. but when we get to the farm, we see that he's beaten us to it. he tells us to stop filming. he says they don't want anything to do with laliti, she's as good as dead to them. we head to a nearby village for look for david's parents.

seems to be locked. we find his uncle who tells us just days after they eloped, the police held dave's mother and father and three of his friends on suspicion of kidnapping. dave's parents deny the charges as does dave, but they're not returning home fearing for the harassment. and one of the friends who helped the couple escape is still in custody. >> translator: yes, love happens. that's fine. but in this society, they've done something wrong. the law allows it. society doesn't. >> reporter: back at the shelter, the couple knows they've put their family through a lot. but they say they have no regrets. we wouldn't have been killed had it not been for the love commandos. even though they don't know what's next, they're happy to be alive and together. cnn, new delhi. we have live pictures for you now, this is roswell, ynew

mexico, as felix baumgartner is getting into this capsule and he is going to start the ascent. the estimated time is 1:40 for launch. he'll go 23 miles up and then jump. what we know is that he's been working for seven years to beat this record. it was held by colonel joe kitinger in 1960. 52 years ago, he jumped from 1002 feet up. this time will be 120,000 feet. imagine if you're on a jetliner and you're flying cross-country. you're at about 35,000 to 40,000 feet. he's going up to 120,000. he'll get out it to the end of the capsule and he will jump wearing his pressurized suit, wears about 100 pounds. and he will fl 115,000 feet in five minutes. imagine that. 115,000 feet in five minutes. he'll then coast down for the

final 5,000 feet to earth using his pair suit that as chad myers told us earlier is thinner than a sandwich bag. 8/10000 of an inch thick. we'll of course follow the jump. felix baumgartner trying to break the sound barrier just using his body. we'll follow. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th,

five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. before you begin an aspirin regimen. i've been a superintendent for 30 some years at many different park service units across the united states. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved.

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i'm victor blackwell. this hour in the cnn newsroom, mitt romney is gaining ground in the polls. plus, to get the church choir and the stained glass windows. more americans are saying no to organized religion. let's get right to it, but first we're just about 40 minutes from an attempt to set a new skydiving record. t not just any record. one from the edge of space.

23 miles above the earth. at 1:40 eastern, felix baumgartner plans to begin his ascent before his free fall back to earth. he'll leap from a specially built balloon and capsule wearing a high tech spacesuit, weighs about 100 pounds. but if this goes wrong, it could go terribly wrong. the jump was supposed to actually happen at 10:30 eastern this morning. but it was delayed because of windy conditions. let's bring in brian todd, he is in new mexico at the launch side. does it look now that everything is ready to go? >> it does. and this is one of the most exciting moments of this entire mission. delays have been fairly significant with the wind conditions earlier fp that's gone away. we'll zoom zoom into the capsule. felix baumgartner has entered the capsule, he's going through all of the various components and all the checks that he has

to do to get ready for this mission. you mentioned the launch time. scheduled for 1:40 eastern time, 11:40 local time, a little less than 40 minutes from now. and in the meantime, they're going to be inflating the high altitude balloon. that balloon is laid out on the ground to the right of the capsule over there. you can't see much it take shape, but that should be coming shortly. this is a massive balloon, 55 stories high, can accommodate incredible volumes of helium and it will take into 120,000 feet brof the surface of the earth. it takes him about they're estimating 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get up there. so once the launch takes place at 1:40 from that point, 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get to the stra s stratosphe stratosphere. at that point, he'll do other checks. everything is planned out to the very minute step and then he

steps off a platform and begins his dive. so that is the time table we're looking at. very exciting right now and those first moments after the jump will be the most dangerous and the most crucial. >> and certainly exciting to watch as he kind of kicks his legs out of a the edge of this capsule and jumps towards the earth. and it's not just some self-serving effort to break a world record. there is some science involved here. what to we expect to learn from in jump? >> well, a couple things that are very important.to we expect in jump? >> well, a couple things that are very important. we talked about help breaking the sound barrier. 690 plus miles an hour. he could actually go as fast as maybe 720 miles an hour. that is faster than a jumbo jet travels. you imagine, he is just doing this in a high pressure suit. one of the points of that is to test what happens to the body when it goes through the sound barrier. no one has ever done it before. they think that because there's very little pressure up there and very little air, that maybe

the body could get battered around a bit, but that it won't really suffer any severe effects. but that will be put to the test. another test is of the high pressure suit. if that gets breached in any way, we could have a very bad situation on our hands. a couple possibilities are that he could be exposed to severely cold temperatures, it gets to about 70 degrees below zero up there. if it's breached more severely, the air could get sucked out of his lungs and his blood could boil. we don't want to think about that but these are the things that they have laid out for us as far as possibilities if that high pressure suit is breached. if the suit stays intact, we talked about what they want to gain as far as scientific knowledge. that is really going to be possibly the next generation of spacesuit. when his predecessor the man who holds this road, joe kitinger, did this in 1960, they based the spacesuits for the mercury and apollo programs on his suit. so if this is successful, the next generation of astronauts

could be wearing a suit very similar to that of which felix baumgartner is wearing. >> let's talk more about the unknowns with chad myers. brian mentioned kitinger who has the record. we're going up to 120,000. there are unknowns because no one's ever done this, but what do we know about temperature, pressure, concerns at that level? >> when he jumps out of the capsule, he's not going to start doing tumbles. he doesn't want to. but he won't do black flips. this is not a joke. this is head down, straight down, as fast as he can go for the next couple of minutes trying to get to that sound barrier, trying to go as fast a the body can go down. once it hits the atmosphere, the body will slow down. only about 120 miles an hour. that's as fast as you can go when there is air slowing you down. he'll feel the drag eventually. but it's the first ten miles that he won't have that drag that that's when he'll try to

accelerate to that point. it is a big deal for space because of space tourism. we talk about spacex, richard branson trying to take people up to the edge of space. if we could have had something like this to get those astronauts that lost their lives in low earth orbit coming back from challenger and so on on, that could have been a huge difference. this is what we're talking about. maybe a life saving apparatus to get people up to the edge of space and then back down. make it a return trip rather than if something goes catastrophically wrong this one of thieves space tourist things, where do you go from there. this is a big time science project. obviously trying to break a world record, but the science behind it is tremendous. >> so although there is 1 excitement and people will watch, it's not a stunt jump. >> absolutely. >> they talked about the horizontal spin that they want to avoid that would put him in some serious danger. chad, thank you. we'll get back to you when we

get closer to 1:40, the sti estimated time. all right. a difference from the debate. we're seeing it in the numbers. a new poll out today suggests that mitt romney's performance last week gave him a major bounce. the pew research poll has romney leading the president 49%-45% among likely voters. you might say this is just one poll. all right. well, romney's four point advantage is still within the survey sampling error, but make no mistake, it's got people talking. and even the american research group, another polling group, shows that the race tightening to just within one percentage point over the last two weeks. romney is out on the campaign trail in iowa, a state that could deliver him six critical elack torial votes. jim acosta is with him. jim, of course good news for the romney campaign, but what does this mean for the campaign, what changes are you seeing on the road? >> reporter: well, one thing that we have seen over the last several days, the crowds are

getting bigger for mitt romney out on the campaign trail. we're at an event in van meter, iowa, chuck grassley is on stage getting the crowd warmed up to hear from the gop nominee. and just before that, josh romney was at the podium and he said what a lot of romney family members and even romney himself has been saying out on the campaign trail, and that is how about that debate last week. they do feel that that debate has energized voters, has also given undecided voters who were sort of looking at both candidates sort of a different look, a new look at mitt romney and they think that isle also a reason why the poll numbers are moving his direction. but we had a chance to listen to a senior romney adviser on the campaign plane heading in to iowa. kevin madden was talking to reporters. and we asked him what do you think about the new polls. and he said this is campaign that doesn't get it too high on good days and doesn't get take low on bad days. and so the translation is that they are they're going to ride it out.

they're of course happy and they're energized by what they're seeing out here, but they know that they also have to be cautious about this. i talked to another romney campaign aide yesterday in virginia who said they would have preferred these poll numbers to come out in november, not october. >> which is also, cnn, we'll have you are our own poll numbers out take at 4:00 p.m. but let's talk now about the obama team. are they hitting the panic button or are they just as some people are saying this is one poll, two polls, still very tight? >> i'm not sure if they're hitting the panic button. i think they're hitting the sesame street button. the obama campaign has been using big bird pretty heavily to go after mitt romney after that debate perform answer last week. and what you've seen the obama campaign do is lit gate tigate t debate argument that mitt romney was dishonestanswer last week. and what you've seen the obama campaign do is litigate the post debate argument that mitt romney was dishonest during the first faceoff, so they'll be hammering

him on that, putting big bird out on the campaign trail, he they have the new ad that came out this morning showing mitt romney going after big bird. and we also had a chance to ask kevin madden about that and he said, hey, wait a minute, this is troubling that this is what the obama campaign has resorted to. and all morning long, romney and republican party officials have been blasting out e-mails to reporters showing what president obama said back in 2008 when he was center obama at the democratic convention when he said when you're in trouble out on the campaign trail, sometimes you make these campaigns about small things and that's what the romney campaign is accusing the president of doing right now. sfwlt president talking about big bird and elmo making a run for the border now. they'll both be in ohio running across that state border this evening. 18 electoral votes on the line there. we've said it many times. no republican in modern times has won the white house without winning ohio. the president knows it, of

course mitt romney's campaign knows it. what are they doing now after the debate performance to switch this into their favor in ohio. >> reporter: they're pouring a lot of energy and resources into ohio right now. you're right, mitt romney if he were somehow elected president without winning the state of ohio, he would be the first republican candidate to to so so making history in that regard. but i think what you'll be seeing is poll numbers tightening when it comes to the state of ohio. that is sdwrus a natural extension of what we're seeing across the battleground map. the will lots of states are sh the polls tightening between the president and mitt romney p. and what we heard from the campaign plane is that they'll be zeroing in on on the economy. they feel like even though they talked about national security you issues yesterday, they've been doing that a lot lately, but the economy is the make or break issue and that's what they'll be focusing on.

>> all right, jim acosta, in iowa. and today wolf blitzer has a live interview with mitt romney at 6:00 p.m. eastern. only on cnn. and thursday, the next debate, the vice presidential debate, joe biden, paul ryan together on the stage. cnn special live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific. here's what we're working on for this hour. it's sentence heing day for jerry sandusky. but the convicted child rapist says he is the real victim. plus none of the above. that's what one in five americans chooses when it comes to religion. and backlash for supporting mitt romney. actress stacey dash is on the defensive after simply tweeting her support.

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call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock protection risk free for a full 60 days. use promo code: gethelp. plus get this document shredder free-- but only if you act right now. call the number on your screen now! [ male announcer ] break the grip of aches or arthritis pain with odor free aspercreme. powerful medicine relieves pain fast, with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. mitt romney is out on the campaign trail today in iowa and ohio. he's speaking right now in van meter, iowa. let's listen. >> -- interest, dividends, capital gains if you're lucky enough to have them, my view is if you're making $200,000 a year and less, you should pay no tax

whatsoever on interest, dividends or capital gains. -- in this country associated with agricultural exports. over the last four years, the president has signed no new trade agreements with any nation around the world. even as china and european nations have put together some 44 different agreements, he's done none. what i'm going to do is make sure that i devote my time to getting trade promotion authority, that i use that authority to negotiate new deals so we open up new markets for american farms an american goods because we can compete on a level playing field with anyone in the world. now there are differences on regulations by the way. and you know this. the regulatory burden under this

administration has gone crazy. the president's regulations as it relates to farming are kind of interesting. one is the epa tried to get into -- well, the government tried to get into regulating rainwater in ditches on farms. it used to be that there was rainwater in iowa and people cared about that. we hope it's coming back soon. but in addition, they of course want to regulate dust, they want to impose tduplicate rules on pesticides. there was an effort to prevent teenagers from working on certain functions in farms. and then pushing cap and trade. i understand if they push cap and trade, it will not only massively impact the income of farms, it will take millions out of farming. my view is you have to have regulation. you need regulation for markets to work effectively. but i'm going to cut back on regulation. i'm going to put a cap on

regulation and any new regulation will have to be approved by congress. i'm not letting the politicians off the hook. >> mitt romney talking about regulations as it relates to agriculture and the farming community, a message tailored to the people there in iowa. and today wolf blitzer has a live interview with mitt romney at 6:00 p.m. of course thursday the vice presidential debate, joe biden, paul ryan. cnn special live coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific. former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky will likely spend the rest of his life in prison. a judge has sentenced him to at least 30 years in prison. sarah ganum has been covering the story from the beginning and she's with me now. you were in the courtroom today. first off, jerry sandusky has had some really most people would call them bizarre reactions, bizarre answers in

interviews. how did he react today? >> reporter: he didn't react specifically to the sentence, but right before it was handed down, we saw him cry and that was when he was talking about his wife, dottie, and being separated from her. he said that he doesn't like being called a child know wles ter, but what really hurts and where the pain really comes from is being separated from his wife and his family. he said he talked about this year's wedding anniversary, he rolled over in bed to give her a hug and instead he hit a cinder block wall because he's in jail. he also talked about clinging to hope and fighting for the people that still support him. he said that he still thinks about kids and day dreams about smiling children, throws kids up into the air and having water balloon fights. so he still is pre-claiming his innocence. he did not stray in fr that at all. >> still discussing kids and

water balloon fligights. we know the judge could have sentenced him to a lot more time. he faced a max of 400 years in prison. what did the judge say about the minimum of 30 years? >> reporter: the judge recognized the law allowed him to give sandusky centuries in jail, but he thought that was too abstract. he wanted to give him a sentence that would show that he wanted him behind bars for the rest of his life, but he also wanted it to have meaning and that's how he said he arrived at a sentence of 30 to 60 years behind bars. that means the first time jerry sandusky will be eligible no parole is in 30 years. it doesn't mean he'll get out in 30 years. >> so we heard from the judge, we heard from jerry sandusky. but we also heard from victims today. tell us about that. >> reporter: yes, we heard from three victims in person and two

statements were read if to the court by the prosecutor, one have fr a victim and one from a victim's mother. but i think the most powerful one came from victim number four who was the first actually to take the stand at trial. and he said to jerry sandusky, he looked right at him, and he said i'll never forgive you, but he did ask for forgiveness from the other victims because he was abused in the early 1990s. he's one of the first in the time line that we heard of in court at trial. and so he asked for forgiveness for not coming forward sooner. he said that was his one regret. and the other victims also talked about their pain and anguish, victim nine's mom talked about how her son has ride to take his life twice because of this case. victim five talked about how he didn't want to come forward. he still has flashbacks of jerry sandusky's naked body approaching him. but he said he felt it was his civic duty to participate in this trial and put to an end. >> still difficult years ahead.

sarah, thank you for that. all this actress wanted to do was support mitt romney. but she was slammed for her tweet. we'll tell you what she said. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs.

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actress stacey dash tweeted her support for mitt romney and that set off a barrage of attacks on twitter. if you don't know who i'm talking about, this is the woman. she's the being a investigation from the '90s hit clueless. her tweet read vote for romney. the only choice for your future. and it includes a picture of dash wearing a tight red top in front of an american flag. well, the backlash has been fierce. one critic tweeted you're an up employed black woman endorsing mitt romney. you're voting against yourself thrice. you poor beautiful idiot. and wait, stacey dash is voting for romney? you get a little money and you forget that you're black and a woman, two things romney hates. and one twitter user encalled dash an indoor slave. i want to bring in amy holmes. she joins us from new york.

amy, when i read some of these responses this morning, i could not believe what people were saying back to this woman who just said vote for this guy. why all these vicious attacks? >> i know. it is so discouraging. but first i want to welcome stacey dash to the black conservative club. we are a small but hearty and resilient group. it does mean you are going to get this kind of reaction unfortunately from some of the very mean spirited people that are out there and apparently they're rage monsters come out in this social media, on twitter, in comment sections. but i applaud her for stating her values fort rightly, openly and even responding to some of these critics.rightly, openly and even responding to some of these critics.hrightly, openly and even responding to some of these critics. she's a strong and brave woman and i look forward to hearing more from her. >> you say the black conservative club is a small one. i was sitting with the producers of the show this morning and we were trying to think about other black celebrities, not politicians because we know that there are herman cain, j.c. w s

watts, but we couldn't come up with another black celebrity who has come out to support governor romney. why is that? are there not any in hollywood or they're just afraid of this? >> well, you know, i don't know the answer to that question. sort of a chicken and egg problem really. but we do know the hollywood community is very left wing and that there is this thought 3w4r police ihollywood. it is a real risk. i have friends who have told me stories about people who didn't get jobs because of their politics. it's so competitive. you don't want to have one thing counting against you and being a conservative is apparently the only unforgivable sin for hollywood left wing entertainerses. >> dash tweeted something after all this backlash. she tweeted my humble opinion, everyone is entitled to one.

her supporters chimed in, as well, to her defense. one tweet says all romney supporters, please follow and support real stacey dash, that's her handle. it appears she'll be voting for mitt romney and she's getting heat over this. one question i had about this was looking back at the 2008 primary between barack obama and hillary clinton, there were some high profile african-americans who supported hillary clinton. maya angelou one of them. and there wasn't this kind of backlash. so the question is, is this more about race and supporting someone other than the black candidate or is it more about the policy and supporting a republican white candidate? >> i think it's a little bit of both. when you relaflect back to the 2008 election, we're talking about two democrats and we know the the african-american community votes overwhelming for democratic candidates.

90%. but it 's also race. and you saw that in the twitter feeds. that stacey dash being african-american was getting particular vitt reol and viciousness because of that. and you read some of the mild tweets frankly. there were other things said to her and about her that were far nastier and far uglier having to do with race. and i think there's also frankly a gender element, too. and that was showing up in the tweets. that being a beautiful woman, a lot of people can't take it. >> some of the things we couldn't say on television. amy holmes, thank you for that. mitt romney tweeted women have had enough of barack obama's disappointment. we need new leadership to get our economy growing again. and you can hear from takes city dash herself, she'll be live on piers morgan tonight at 9:00 eastern right here on cnn. stain glass window, church pews, the choir. all things in the past for a lot of americans. because more people say they have no religion.

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welcome back. i'm victor blackwell in for suzanne malveaux. we have a live look at roswell, new mexico. this is that huge balloon connected to felix balm fwart n baumgartn baumgartner. he'll use the balloon to go up two hours. he's supposed to start at 1:40. so let me give you the time line here. at 1:40, he'll begin his ascent up 23 miles, he'll then try to jump and break the sound barrier which is 120,000 feet. he'll be moving at 700 miles an hour. and he's trying to break a record that was set back in 1960. we'll watch this from roswell, new mexico. brian todd is there. but again, he's not doing it just for a stunt. there is a lot of science behind this and could make space travel

safer. he can do the jump. i can't say the words. we'll watch felix baumgartner from roswell, new mexi. question for you. when's the last time you went to church, temple or synagogue, any place of worship if sn if your answer is it's been a while or never, you may be part of the rising number of americans who say they have no religious affiliation. a new survey by pew forum on religion and public life founds a whopping 33 million americans now say they don't have a religion. that's one out of every five americans. joining me now to talk about this is cnn's belief blog coed editor. eric, why are people telling surveyors that they're turning away from organized religion specifically? >> there were a nuchmber of reasons as to why they don't consider themselves affiliated with any religion.

one was maybe they weren't raiseded in a religious household. another reason they gave was they weren't crazy about the way things were going. they were upset about the religion and they left. and another one was they were raised in a religious family, but never really got engaged with the religion. many they left for college and when they come back, they do for services with their mom and dad but otherwise they kind of leave to their parents and have left the religion as they've moved on with their lives. >> we know now about why people are leaving, but what are we learning about who is leaving, their age, any political of affiliation? >> there were interesting points brought up, that an awful lot of the folks who left or say they have no religious preference are young. and frankly, when we look at millennials, those folks born around 1981 and sooner, who are around the ages of 18 to 22, 34% of those young millennials say

they have no religious affiliation. and in particular when we look at their political leanings, 63% say they are democrat or lean democratic. and 26% say they're republican or lean republican. and victory, you'll remember this came up during the democratic national convention when they removed the word god from the party platform, there was a big brouhaha about this and they eventually reinserted it back into that platform. but political scientists, one named john green who advised the pew on this study who is one of the pre-emnapt collars, he said democrats would do well to play to this group and they could be just as influential as the religous right folks can be for the republican party. >> taking god out of party platform lasted for just a few hours. but we didn't want people to believe that the folks who are walking away from organized religion are atheists. because they aren't. they're not a part of a

religious -- organized religion, but they do believe in god apparently. what is the difference for them that we're learning from this survey? >> this survey did show a big spike in the number of people who are atheists, particularly those who are younger saying they're atheists. and part of that is because there's been a culture shift. it's now okay to say you're an atheist or you have no religious preference. but let me walk you through this. of those people who said they have no religious preference, a full 68% of them still said they believed in god. that's a big number. 68% said they still believed in god. 37% said they were spiritual but not religious, something we hear an awful lot. and 20% of those folks said they pray every day. >> it looks like we've run out of time, but i wanted to get specifically believing in god. and crafting a god that you can believe in if there are no organized religious rules.

eric, thank you very much for that. we're back now to roswell, new mexico. felix baumgartner about to go up. scheduled for 1:40 his ascent to 23 miles above the earth. where he is going to jump out of a capsule wearing a pressurized suit and helmet. we're told that it weighs about 100 pounds and he's going to head up to try to break the sound barrier using nothing but his physical body. brian todd is there on the ground at the launch site in roswell. give us an idea of what's happening right now, the final moments before the ascent. >> reporte well, victor, this is very interesting visual to watch as you can see, the inflation of the balloon. we're told that that inflation has about maybe 20 minutes or less to go. once that is completely inflated, we're pretty much assuming that we'll get a go signal for the balloon and the capsule to be launched. and then once that lifts off,

you're talking about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of ascent time before it hits the top of the stratosphere and the point where felix baumgartner will jump. we're told he's been for the last several minutes inside the capsule doing checks, going through his proceed jegs proje. once the balloon and the capsule start to ascend, the guy in his ear is joe kitinger, the man whose 52-year-old record for the longest free fall felix baumgartner will try to break. so in the ascent which should begin in about 20 minutes or so, joe kitinger and fee wliks baumgartner will be speaking to each other. >> brian, we're seeing the balloon whip around a bit and we know this was not the first scheduled launch time. it was delayed from earlier this morning. tell us more about the conditions there and the concerns for the people, concerns from the people, rather, who were managing this

attempt. >> reporter: well, early this morning we were getting early warnings that there were high winds -- not really high. if it's relative. but winds that were too strong for this balloon to really deal with and those winds existed about 700 to 800 feet above the earth. and they just said that the winds were probably at about 20 miles an hour at their strongest point. doesn't seem like it's very strong to you and i, but for this particular balloon, that is an issue. it's a sensitive balloon, very strong and very big. but it is sensitive to those winds. and they were worry that had maybe the balloon could get too far ahead of the capsule and that it could get whipped around a little bit. you can see it getting whipped around there, not sure exactly what that means. a lot of this could be expected by the crew once they start to really get this thing going, that it could be susceptible to some surface winds. but right now, we're not experiencing any winds at all. so you can tell just how

sensitive that balloon really is. >> we talked earlier about some of the science involved with this, not just the stunt jump or something to get into a guinness book. the effort is really to make space travel safer. tell us about what we're expecting to learn from this. >> reporter: they really want to learn what the human body goes lieu when through when it breaks the sound barrier, but another thing probably more critical is for the future of space tourism, space exploration is can the human -- can a human survive for any period of time outside a space vehicle if there is a malfunction. and this is going to go a long way toward providing some of those answers. this high pressure suit that felix baumgartner is wearing is incredibly sophisticated. it has been tailored specifically to his body. and just has all sorts of components on it that will enable him to gauge his readings, to tell where he is. just all sorts of things. but really the key test is it

going to be breached in in any way. those 30 seconds or so after his jump, there is a lot that could happen that would be very unfortunate. so those first 30 seconds, they'll really be holding their breath. >> we see here a split screen on the right, you have fee wliks ba fee wliks baumgartner, on the left colonel kitinger who holds the record. we'll see if this goes up this afternoon, we know felix baumgartner has trained for seven years to break this record. it looks like he's having to wait a few more minutes. scheduled to go up at 1:40 eastern, but now at 1:42 still on the ground. we saw the man there kitinger shaking his head, so we're trying to figure out if it's been scrubbed, if it's been pushed back. you can see facial expressions here. you don't know if it's anxiety or disappointment. you'd imagine that there would be a bit of anxiety when you know that someone you love is going 23 miles above the earth.

but we'll see exactly what happens here. again, this is supposed to go up for about two to three hours and then he'll jump. we have chad myers here now with us. chad, we saw the balloon whipping back and forth. is that the wind you were talking about or are we talking much higher elevations? >> there is higher wind higher up, but that one gustable i saw that balloon touch the ground. and if that balloon touched the ground or even came within a couple of feet, they will have to be a bort this. they will not be able to take that balloon any farther. it will be done. it's so fragile, its see thin, that literally a pebble touching it could poke a hole in that whole fuselage where you see the inside the bubble of the helium up above. yeah, in my ear saying that they just confirmed that it has back aborted for today because the balloon did touch the ground. >> let's go to brian todd. he has more on that. considering all the sensitivities that chad just described, you're hearing that -- let's listen to the

commander. brian, what are you hearing specifically about end ing this attempt today? >> reporter: we're still kind of waiting to see what the process is going to be. we're hearing that there may be a problem with the radios at this point. and maybe some issue with communication. but not sure about that. you know, the wind situation as chad mentioned will be a very sensitive situation. but they have said shortly before they started inflating this balloon that the winds were at a more optimum speed for launch. so we are just kind of waiting to see just what the issue could be at this point. it could be something fairly no.

p. >> let's try to listen to mission control and see if they're describing what happened. >> i'll shut down the nerve transmitter. >> might as well shut it all off. >> i'm going for need to maintain in case they want me on send anymore commands, though. >> well, yeah, that's true. >> okay. 1-1-0. execute. >> transponder. >> roger that. 1-2-7 selected. execute.

transponder's off. we have shut down the faa transponder as well as the nerve system. >> all right, we're seeing felix baumgartner open his helmet and prepare to climb out of that capsule. so the question is, so it's aborted for came d aborted for today. what's next? did the balloon get damaged, do they try tomorrow? >> reporter: well, what we're told is tomorrow the weather conditions are a little more uncertain. it's not certain that they can really go tomorrow. thursday we're tolis a better looking day for launch. we're also told that they do have a backup balloon that can be used if there is an issue with this one.

so we're going to see what the the issue with this balloon has been. you did see felix baumgartner unhook some of his components. he may be climbing out of the capsule fairly soon. we're not sure exactly what is going on here. i'm listening to another feed of some of the communications here and we'll hopefully be able to clash g clarify that momentarily. >> all right. we'll take a quick break. the attempt for this skydive from space has been aborted for today and we'll find out more about why coming up. dy. his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels.

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received this year. hi there. here on the help desk we're helping you pay off your student loans and with me this hour are liz miller and greg mcbride. greg, here is a question for you. >> what's the fastest way to pay off my student loans? >> first of all, should she be in such a hurry to pay off her loans? >> look at the private student loans first and focus on getting those paid down. not only do they tend to have higher and variable interest rates, but lack the flexibility of things like forbearance that lets you suspend payments if you have a period of financial difficulty, federal student loans have that provision in there. rank your debts from higher interest rate to the west, focus on the highest rate obligation. when you get that paid off, focus on the next highest and so on down the line. >> any additional advice? >> the only other advice that people forget if you're focused and have a lot of debt, you can make a commitment to work in a nonprofit or a number of government service jobs and after ten years of service, the remainder of that debt will be forgiven. a lot of people who feel

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28 days to go until the election and we're looking in depth at voters in america. some civil rights activists are concerned about new voter i.d. laws. 31 states currently have voter i.d. laws in place. tennessee has one of the strictest. and former marine tim thompson is angry.

>> hi. i'm tim thompson. i'm 56 years old. i'm a former united states marine. and i live here in nashville, tennessee. i'm against federal i.d. the way it is written right now. and we knew super tuesday was coming up, big scene, an i decided i needed to do something. i want to go down to the polling place and show my registration card like i've done for 37 years and see what they say to me. and, of course, they didn't allow me to vote. but then i told the polling director that i refuse to show you i.d. because i'm protesting the law. i'm giving up my right to vote today to fight for the rights of people that don't have this opportunity that want to vote but don't have the opportunity because they might not have that i.d. so the only weapon that an individual has in this country is his right to vote. and it is going to earn them blood. not some politician that tells

you can vote. you earned that right to vote because people have died for your right to vote. when you go and you say it doesn't matter, think about somebody that died in the war, when you have people that don't matter, that i don't vote, it does matter. >> it was good to be with you today. "cnn newsroom" continues after this with brooke baldwin. lling s right from the video. great idea, we can pick one and frame it! yeah. here, watch this. she nails almost every move. our old camera could never do this. she's so good at ballet. i think she's the best in the class. where is she by the way? in time out. oh. and that one! [ male announcer ] take a photo straight from video and never miss a moment. the htc one x from at&t now $99.99. ♪